Attorney General Urges Knesset to Take a Clear Stand Against ‘kahanism’

Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir warned today that the activities and philosophy of Rabbi Meir Kahane and his extremist Kach movement pose a danger to social order in Israel and urged the Knesset to take a clear stand against it.

Zamir told the Knesset House Committee that he would welcome a resolution that would keep Kahane, the Knesset member for Kach, away from Arab population centes in Israel and from places where Arabs are employed. Kahane advocates the expulsion of all Arabs from Israel and from the occupied territories.

Zamir proposed specifically a Knesset resolution that would require Kahane to abide by police decisions to bar Kach members from Arab areas. As an MK, Kahane has been immune from such orders. The Attorney General suggested that the ban on Kahane be effective for a year. The committee is expected to pass such a resolution next week.

DENOUNCED AS A DANGEROUS MOVEMENT

Zamir denounced “Kahanism” as a dangerous movement. “I feel that this phenomenon is shameful, disgusting and dangerous,” he told the Knesset members. “This is so because it conflicts sharply with all the values which are so dear to us.”

He added that “Kahanism” flouts international law and distorts Judaism, endangers Jewish tradition and contradicts Zionism. It undermines the foundations of the State of Israel whose declaration of independence calls for equal rights for all citizens, Zamir said.

“The existence and respectability of the Knesset depends on a universal respect for its laws and it is unacceptable that a Knesset member would act against those laws,” he said.

Zamir warned that since Kahane was elected to the Knesset last July 23, his movement has picked up strength and threatens the social fabric. It is time to act, he said. Because the courts alone cannot cope with the problem, the Knesset must take a clear stand against it. “A silence by the Knesset, or taking no stand at all on the issue, could be interpreted as acquiescence to Kahane’s expressions and actions,” he warned.